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So, following the runaway success of last week’s adventures into audiobook land, I’m back again with another. This week I’ve finished off The Thank You Economy by the manically enthusiastic Gary Vaynerchuk who rose to prominence on the internet for Wine Library TV. Vaynerchuck explores (in his insanely enthusiastic style) how to use tools such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to better interact and engage with your customers and users. He devotes large passages of his book to discuss how ‘traditional’ businesses need to make inroads into this world, and that they need to push forward their efforts to engage with customers via new media, rather than putting all of their money into traditional advertising. My favourite passage was his exploration of new media campaigns, and where he thinks they’ve done well or done badly (from Old Spice’s failure to capitalise on the gains made by the “I’m on a Horse” campaign, through to the little ‘human’ touches of the Joie de Vivre Hotel company).
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Vaynerchuck’s over-riding theme is that social tools mean that customers have a megaphone to tell their friends, and the public at large if they’ve had a bad experience with a company that doesn’t care. His premise is that if you engage, and show that you’re approaching it as a genuine opportunity to interact, one of your competitors will, and you’ll lose out.[/en]

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On a technical note, the audiobook comes out to 5hrs and 41 minutes and the version I listened to was read by the author himself. I don’t know how familiar you all are with Vaynerchuck’s work, but he presents it in his rather unique style. I’m pretty sure that the book would be at least an hour shorter if it wasn’t for Vaynerchuck’s ‘off script’ moments. These moments though reflect his passion for a subject he believes in quite strongly, and therefore add a significant amount to the book.
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